Gwangju, Korea October 31, 2006

Gwangju, a city four hours south of Seoul, is a historical site for democracy activists, symbolic for both Koreans and Asian activists. A Mecca of sorts.

On May 18, 1980, the first uprising against the military dictatorship and martial law started in Gwangju by university students. This was in response after a series of setbacks, from clampdowns on the media and the arrest of then Opposition politician Kim Dae Jung (Kim later was freed from prison and went on to become the President of South Korea).

But as more were shot, beaten to death, or detained by the military, the whole city rallied behind the students and organised itself into citizens’ self-defence units against the military onslaught. As the military laid seige on Gwangju, the citizens were eventually overpowered by sheer might. Hundreds of students and citizens died, many more injured, and still today some are still missing.

Firstly, these pictures are great. I love the last one especially. It’s so colourful yet so sombre…

I tried to look for your email from this website but couldn’t quite find it, so I thought I would leave a message here instead. I’m a Master student from University of Malaya currently working on my thesis, titled “Is blogging an effective tool for democratizing Malaysia?”

I was wondering if I could schedule an interview with you regarding this topic. If you’re interested, can you please email me at june.tan@gmail.com? It would be very much appreciated if you could. Thanks and have a great day!